As far as I'm concerned, Amway is a cult. They use brainwashing techniques, they lie to people to get them to join, they encourage their members to convert others and to avoid people hostile to conversion, and they prey on the weak and the weak minded.

If you think I'm exaggerating, you're wrong. My sister was in Amway. She was eighteen, away from home for the first time, and someone invited her to a meeting. They kept her up all night, made her chant motivational slogans and told her wonderful lies about how much money she could make. "No risk", they said, "If you invest and you don't like it you can get your money back." That was a lie, as she found out when no one wanted to buy the shitty products and she tried to leave the organization. People on her "up-line" called her and harassed her at home, trying to keep her from leaving. When she finally left, none of her so-called friends would talk to her anymore, she had spent all her savings and she was stuck with a room full of laundry detergent that plain doesn't work.

Now, knowing that cults:

  1. most often prey on people in weak positions (unemployed, away from home for the first time, alienated from friends and family)
  2. use the classic brainwashing techniques of sleep deprivation and slogan chanting
  3. always tell people that they can leave anytime they want to but make your life very difficult if you try to leave
  4. pretend to care about you but really only want your money

You can see where I might draw this conclusion.

Exploiting your friends and family as business opportunities turns your human relationships into commercial commodities. Do not alienate people you care about.